Extension ladders have been utilized for decades in industries such as advertising, repair and construction, to allow workers access to certain work areas located at various heights. The traditional method used to deploy an extension ladder entails manually removing the extension ladder from a vehicle, carrying the ladder to the site at which the work is to be performed, and manually positioning the ladder against a portion of the structure followed by raising the ladder to the appropriate height. In fact, this procedure is still practiced when a service vehicle is not easily driven to the specific job site. Over time, however, as more service vehicles have been placed in use and more service calls have been required to be undertaken by each work crew, the need has arisen for provision of a ladder assembly comprising a brace which allows easy and rapid positioning of the mobile ladder without undue manipulation of the ladder by the work crew, and without the requirement of two or more workers to deploy the extension ladder. One such ladder assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,043,398, issued July 10, 1962, to Bakula.
Bakula discloses a mobile extension ladder adapted to be mounted on a vehicle or similar mobile platform which ladder readily can be shifted from a transport position to an operative position, which is partially self-erecting, and which, when deployed, is supported entirely by the vehicle such that the ladder extends upwardly and forwardly so as to be positioned over a rear portion of the vehicle. This ladder assembly, however, is deficient since the extension ladder can be deployed only in one position in which it is extended upwardly, forwardly and over a portion of the vehicle.